No clean chit to Meiyappan yet, says Mumbai crime branch

Mumbai, July 30 -- A day after the BCCI's two-member probe panel gave a clean chit to Gurunath Meiyappan, the police said it had still not given a clean chit to any of the accused in the spot-fixing scandal.

Meiyappan, along with 19 others, have been booked on the charge of betting in the IPL.

"While Meiyappan was arrested on charges of placing bets, we still cannot be sure if he was involved in spot-fixing," said a crime branch official. "We will be able to ascertain if the group arrested by us was involved in spot-fixing or not only after we get to interrogate bookies Pawan and Sanjay Chabbra, better known as the Jaipur brothers, and Asad Rauf, who is suspected to have received several gifts from the brothers," he added.

The anticipatory bail application of the Jaipur brothers is up for hearing on August 6.

Telephone intercept

"A particular telephone intercept between Rauf and Vindoo, in which the former tells Vindoo to bet 'all his savings' in an upcoming match where Rauf was officiating, seems suspicious. How could Rauf be so confident about a particular side winning a match before the game could begin," the officer questioned.

Joint commissioner of police, crime, Himanshu Roy, also mentioned that Rauf's questioning would be vital to find out if spot-fixing or match-fixing took place.

Asked if they had initiated the process of asking the Pakistani authorities, where Rauf is suspected to be present, for permission to question him, Roy said they could issue a Letter Rogatory (LR) soon.

A letter rogatory is a formal request from a court to a foreign court for judicial assistance.

"Till the time they are questioned and the chargesheet is filed, we cannot say if the accused were linked to spot-fixing or not," said a senior crime branch officer.